1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser rewriting apparatus, and in more detail, to a laser rewriting apparatus that rewrites an image by emitting laser light to a thermoreversible recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A laser rewriting apparatus in the related art is positioned on one side or the other side of a conveyance path through which a to-be-conveyed object is conveyed in a predetermined conveyance direction on which object a thermoreversible recording medium is affixed (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2008-194905, for example). The laser rewriting apparatus emits laser light to the thermoreversible recording medium and rewrites an image.
The laser writing apparatus in the related art includes an image erasing apparatus and an image recording apparatus. The image erasing apparatus emits laser light to the thermoreversible recording medium on which the image is recorded and erases the image. The image recording apparatus is positioned on the predetermined conveyance direction downstream side of the image erasing apparatus and records a new image by emitting laser light to the thermoreversible recording medium from which the image has been erased by the image erasing apparatus.
However, when the interval between the image erasing apparatus and the image recording apparatus is large, throughput may be degraded since the period of time required for rewriting the image becomes long. When the interval between the image erasing apparatus and the image recording apparatus is short, it may not be possible to carry out an erasing operation on the thermoreversible recording medium of one to-be-conveyed object by the image erasing apparatus and a recording operation on the thermoreversible recording medium of another to-be-conveyed object by the image recording apparatus in parallel, depending on the size of the to-be-conveyed objects on which the thermoreversible recording media are affixed, respectively, for example.